Food Diversion

In the future, Dining Services strives to have zero waste, but for now, much of our unconsumed food ends up in the Southwestern Virginia community instead of in the landfill. In 2007, Jacob Moyer, a student at Virginia Tech, was inspired by the recent tragedies on our campus and decided to create something positive in our community as we healed together. He began a dialogue with Dining Services’ Senior Associate Director,Ted Faulkner, regarding how we handled food waste. Both Moyer and Faulkner were monumental in leading Dining Services to donate excess food to those in need. In early 2008, our "grab and go" items were donated to the Salvation Army five days a week from Au Bon Pain, Deet’s Place, DXpress, and Vet Med Cafè. Since then, we’ve added hot food items from D2 along with our "grab and go" items, to that list. We also regularly donate to two organizations that serve Feeding America and donate over ten times the amount previously donated per month in 2010.